Pope sacks Vatican cardinal handling abuse cases

Gerhard Mueller relieved of duties just days after pope aide Pell was charged with child sex abuse.

01 Jul 2017 22:02 GMT

Pope Francis has dismissed the church's chief of doctrine, Cardinal Gerhard Muller - one of the most powerful cardinals at the Vatican - head of the Vatican office that processes and evaluates all cases of priests accused of raping or molesting minors.

Mueller's sacking on Saturday comes just days after the pontiff released another top Vatican cardinal, Cardinal George Pell, to return home to stand trial for alleged sexual assault.

In May, Francis said her criticism of the slow pace in processing abuse cases was justified and announced he was adding more staff to handle the load.

Earlier this year, he also named Cardinal Sean O'Malley as a member of the congregation in hopes of ensuring better cooperation.

Spar over divorce

Aside from the sex abuse case backlog, Francis and Muller had sparred over the pope's divisive 2016 document on family life in which the pope offered a cautious opening to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion.

Church teaching holds that unless these Catholics receive an annulment, or a church decree that their first marriage was invalid, they are committing adultery and cannot receive Communion unless they abstain from sex.

Four conservative cardinals attacked the pope's document as vague and confusing and publicly requested that Francis clarify it.

Muller did not join their campaign but made it clear that he disagrees with Francis' suggestion that any such decisions could be arrived at in the realm of personal discernment.